UN LIVE, SPOTIFY | SOUNDS RIGHT | 2025
The Day Nature Became an Artist / UN Live × Spotify "SOUNDS RIGHT"
On Earth Day 2024, a brand-new artist called "NATURE" showed up on Spotify. Ocean waves, birdsong, the rustle of a rainforest. Every time one of her songs gets played, she earns royalties, and that money goes straight into conservation. The campaign was built by UN Live and Spotify together with AKQA Copenhagen, and it won the Grand Prix in the Innovation category at Cannes in 2025.
The problem
Biodiversity is in a dire state, and conservation work is chronically underfunded. Meanwhile, the music industry has used natural sounds, like waves and birdsong, forever, yet nature itself had never once been credited for it. That contradiction is where Sounds Right began.
The insight
Instead of asking people to donate, the idea was to turn an existing habit, listening to music, into an act of conservation. Nature isn't treated as a charity cause here, it's treated as a legitimate artist. Just by listening, people support conservation at zero cost. It takes Brian Eno's idea that "music began with the sounds of nature" and turns it directly into an economic system.
The idea
NATURE was registered as an official artist on Spotify and other platforms. Her catalog has two kinds of tracks: pure environmental recordings, and "Feat. NATURE" collaborations with a wide range of artists including David Bowie × Brian Eno, Ellie Goulding, AURORA, Hozier, and V (BTS). Every time a track is streamed, 50 to 63% of the royalties go to NATURE, managed by EarthPercent, the organization Brian Eno founded. Guided by a panel of UN experts, the funds flow to conservation projects in key biodiversity regions like the Tropical Andes and the Amazon.
What happened
At COP16 in October 2024, streaming revenue alone generated 220,000 dollars plus an additional 5,000 dollars, which was distributed to four conservation organizations in Colombia. In 2025, the campaign won the Grand Prix in the Innovation category at Cannes Lions.
Afterthought
What's great is that nobody loses here. Listeners just keep listening like they always do, artists get to express their love for nature, and nature, for once, is on the receiving end of payment. The day rivers, forests, and birds finally became artists.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2025
